Tuesday, December 31, 2013

So many boys quit reading for pleasure at the age of 10, the phenomenon has a name — the Fourth-Grade Slump. It has been said that forty per cent of boys are “reluctant readers” in school, but the problem isn’t intelligence. Boys are simply less motivated to read. Give them a look into the exciting and dangerous world of Hank Heaton's Journey on the Oregon Trail. They'll put themselves in Hank's shoes and want to read the series.

Start reading the first book now! Hank of Twin Rivers, Book One: Journey of Change (Volume 1)
by M. C. Arvanitis

Epic Tale - What an incredible story. I loved this first part to the trilogy of The Briton and the Dane. The historical events were wonderfully retold by the author, Mary Ann Bernal, who mixed romance, betrayal, emotion and conspiracy into a masterful plot. And the 'Glossary of Terms' at the end of the book was a magnificent surprise.

What an exceptional story! I absolutely relished Mary Ann Bernal's Concordia; beautifully written and brimming with conspiracy, betrayal, love, hatred. The historical references are light and enjoyable. The ending is memorable and brought a tear to my eye. I appreciated the epilogue and author's notes. I wish Concordia's story had not ended. The Briton and the Dane: Concordia should be on your reading list; tremendous! (It is a stand alone novel in The Briton and the Dane series).

Monday, December 30, 2013

Nottingham City Council is proud to announce a brand new FREE event which will take place in the grounds of Nottingham Castle this New Year's Eve.
The event will feature:

Live music and entertainment

Bar, hot drinks and food stalls

Fireworks display at midnight

Gates open from 9pm. There will be limited capacity in the grounds - entry will be granted on a first come first served basis only. Please note that you will not be able to bring your own food and drink into the grounds. People not able to gain entry to the Castle grounds will still be able to enjoy the fireworks display at midnight - the display should be visible across the city centre.
Nottingham City Council is bringing you this FREE event thanks to sponsorship from Purico.

How to get here

By car: Follow signs from M1 for Nottingham city centre, then follow brown tourist signs. The postcode for the Castle for your sat nav is NG1 6EL (but please remember there is no parking on site except for disabled visitors).Parking: Parking on site for visitors with disabilities only, this must be booked in advance as spaces are limited. Public car parks are nearby, for details of City Council car parks click here.. Nottingham City Council operates the Nottingham Castle pay-and-display car park on Canal Street (NG1 7EH) with all-day parking available for £5. No height restriction applies, so it is suitable for minibuses. The Broadmarsh multi-storey car park on Collin Street (NG1 7EQ) is also within five minutes of Nottingham Castle.On foot: 10 - 15 minute walk from Nottingham city centre or train station.

The Great Wizard: Tell us about your work. In what genre do you write and why?Katie Oliver: Although publishers of necessity put genre labels on books – chick lit, romantic comedy, paranormal, etc. – I think of my writing as women’s fiction (although men like my books, too). But if I had to assign a genre, I’d say they’re rom-coms. I love the give-and-take between two characters who are attracted to each other even when (especially when!) they know they shouldn’t be - or when they initially can’t stand each other. And I love witty banter. I think my love of romantic comedy goes back to the screwball comedies of the thirties – Nick and Nora Charles, Topper, Fred and Ginger, etc. Read more:http://greenwizard62.blogspot.com/2013/12/romcoms-newest-author-katie.html

I'd like to welcomeKatie Oliver around the Cauldron today. Living in Washington and something of an Anglophile, I met Katie through a spontaneous retweet on that frenetic pimpmobile, Twitter. She's excellent company and well worth following.

@katieoliver01Her first book is out next week and I have a feeling its going to be a success. From her sweeping, tree-house enshadowed abode somewhere near Colonial Downs, I interrupted Katie on a shopping trip for big hats and nattered with her over the Wizphone. Here's what she had to say. Well worth reading.
Read more:Romcom's newest author Katie Oliver...around the Cauldron

Hi
Hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and presents that you don't want to sell on Ebay this year. I had a quiet one as I was only off for the day before going off to work again.
This show isn't the usual top 20 tracks of 2013 but some of the best tunes around, plus two New Year's tracks thrown in for good measure - Labrador Dali - Martian Dixon and Abba's Happy New Year. Plus there are a few requests. Hoping you all enjoy this show and the music finds you in a good mood.
All the best & Happy New Year!
Di
To get in touch with any of the Pipeline team: Web - www.pipelineradio.netTwitter - @PipelineRadio

The Briton and The Dane is the first book in a trilogy that takes place in the ninth century. This book caught my attention right away. It was easy to get swept away into the drama and intrigue. I was amassed over all the deception that took place during those time periods. This book also has a very seductive side which made the story even more captivating and entertaining for me.

I love how Mary ann Bernal writes. She is wildly talented and has a real gift for telling a colorful story. The characters are very lifelike and the dialog is impeccable. I loved how the scenes keep shifting around throughout each chapter. I had to pay attention but it was so spellbinding and alluring at the same time. It is all very comprehensible and clever.

Segment 1: Indy Cornrows Managing Editor Tom Lewis joins Phil to discuss the Indiana Pacers easy week against the Brooklyn Nets, Lance Stephenson for Most Improved, comments Pacers GM Larry Bird made about Danny Granger and preview Tuesdays game with the Cavaliers and much more

39 Titus was born. He was
Roman emperor from 79-81 and during his reign the Coliseum was completed.

1370
Pope Gregory XI elected pope. Gregory attempted to foster peace between England
and France during the Hundred Years' War, defeated Florence in its war against
the Papal States, and returned the papacy to Rome from Avignon.

1460 The
Lancastrians routed the Yorkists at the Battle of Wakefield, and executed
Richard, Duke of York.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

2013 has been an amazing year for me personally and over the next few days I’ll be counting down some of my favorite memories in the form of a top ten list. Below are my personal top ten favorite books of the year!

This book has a bit of everything in it and while it’s fiction I can believe stories like this happen everyday, especially in Las Vegas. This is another book with incredible dialogue, believable characters and a storyline that makes this book hard to put down.

This book was amazing. It isn’t easy being poor anywhere but in America being poor and a welfare recipient is the equivalent of being a lazy bum who doesn’t want to work. Morrison shoots that typecast down in a blaze of extremely powerful yet humorous stories about being a mom on welfare.

Mike Tyson was one of the best ever and just like his fighting style he hits hard, is brutally honest and downright hilarious. He also takes full responsibility for everything except one thing. You’ll have to read the book to find out what that is.

I’m not the biggest fan of Mike Piazza but I did appreciate this book for its honesty. I now understand Piazza much better than I did before and have a greater respect of his accomplishments as he truly was a long shot.

I’ve always assumed Joe Kennedy was nothing more than a bootlegger that got lucky. That’s only a sample of the patriarch Joe Kennedy. Nasaw filled in the rest and I was lucky to read this book. If you are like me you will gain a greater understanding of Kennedy and what really made him tick.

I’m a fan of Historical Fiction and after reading this book I became a fan of Bernal as well. This book was well researched and easy to read with believable story lines and characters. If you would like to be taken back in time and read story lines that still happen today this is the book for you.

This is a faith based true crime thriller that blew me away. Wilson decides after 20 years to find out the truth about what happened to her sister and winds up helping authorities catch her killer. The ending is absolutely shocking and something we don’t see every day.

I like a dream come true and this fantasy based ice hockey story filled that for me. I could identify with the main character Sherm in so many ways I thought he was writing about me. The book has everything in it and if you like fantasy, mystery and ice hockey than I suggest you read this book.

Shattered Reality is really a story of an unhappy bride. It's also a coming-of-age story that I think many of you can relate to. There is no holding back. Just a story about a girl. No one too extraordinary or famous. Just me!

I may not make myself look so great but this is my life and hopefully I have learned a thing or two from my mistakes and even forgiven myself. I hope you will too!

Ever since the death of her parents at the age of 17, Cassie has been dreaming about a dark haired man. He always comes to her in times of trouble to comfort her and help her through the toughest of days. But now after the deva...stating break up with her boyfriend, Cassie struggles with separating reality from her dreams.

During a trip to her family beach house, her dream man becomes her lover and Cassie finds herself longing for this man to be in her life. But trying to find out the truth about him leaves her questioning her very existence and sanity.

She is convinced her dream man is real and connected to a string of macabre murders over the last 20 years. Fearing for her life, Cassie prays she is right about him and that he can save her before it is too late.

Note from author: WARNING : This book mentions an episode of sexual abuse.

http://www.amazon.com/Manning-Family-Kim-Scott-ebook/dp/B00HGXKPL8The Manning Family has lived in the mansion overlooking the Atlantic for more than 200 years. With wealth and power, they enjoyed lives of privilege beyond reason. But 1929 is looming, and dark clouds are gathering. This is a story of exceptional loyalty between devoted friends and the dark side of survival. Kim Scott’s highly anticipated tale of historical fiction, told in her uniquely tantalizing style, will take you back to the end of the 1920s on the coast of Maine. Listen to the waves breaking on the beach, smell the salt in the air, and taste the smooth, aged Whisky.

5 Star Review of 'What Happened to Alex Manning?'

"Starting from his ancestry of the beginning of the heritage of the Manning Family, we learn the importance of what it is to be a Manning. Furthermore, we learn the importance of what it is to be a male at the reign of the Manning heritage. Alex Manning was born into such a role, and as if conquering the feats of life wasn’t enough, he was traine...d to become successful enough to rule a powerful family and all their jealous entrapment, cruelty of nature, jealously, and the haunting of wrongful doings. But the hauntings become just too much for Alex’s own father who was overcome by it all. Through blindness of guilt, Alex’s father sends his beloved son into a world of which no Manning has ever experienced. The real world. Raised to be a leader in high places, will Alex Manning survive this twisted fate in the cruel, cold world of the early 1900′s? With no money in his pockets will find his way on the humble streets of despair, hunger, brutality and thievery? Can he rise above even from the rat infested sludge of the unthinkable row house? With historical times of Maine, Kim Scott paints a historical fiction setting that you will feel yourself step right into the shoes of a commoner in the cold, damp, dark 1800′s- 1900. From riches beyond dreams, to hunger day after day and let’s not forget about love and family as well, you will follow through Alex Manning’s life and his dream to correct the Manning name.

I understand that there is a sequel coming out! I can't wait to get a copy!"

You don’t know why it’s your turn today but all you know is that it is.

The atmosphere has been building up for weeks.

Those little incidents.

Brief encounters.

Minor skirmishes.

You’ve never experienced anything like this anticipation before and you’re scared. Your stomach is turning over as if you’re staring down the side of a skyscraper. You are tense and dizzy and you wish you hadn’t had seconds in the dinner hall.

Manchester Tart.

Two slices.

You’re thirteen, sitting at a large school desk, your satchel packed and blazer on.

Five boys are staring at you. You know it’s your turn.

You’re paralysed. Panic. You cannot move. You’ve never known a feeling like it. Trepidation courses through your veins. Your body is charged and you want to cry. But you don’t. Weeping will only make things worse.

You wish it isn’t your turn today but it is.

You pray.

That’s what they taught you to do at Primary School. Pray. When in trouble. Pray. God will provide. God will save. They taught you to pray before they taught you to read, those nuns. You really need him now but as you’ve long suspected, he isn’t there and somehow even if he is out there, you know he isn’t going to help.

1170 Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury,
was murdered while at vespers in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights of King
Henry II. Acting on the frustrated outburst of King Henry II, four knights
entered the Cathedral and struck down the Archbishop. The knights fled.Henry would later do public penance for his
ill-considered words that ultimately ended the quarrel between one-time
friends.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

One of the memorable incidents was the bath
night. He’d gone out for a game of poker and I ran a deep bath; it soothed and
relaxed me. He came home early and the moment he walked in to the bathroom I
realised I was in trouble.

Before I knew it
his hand was on my face, forcing my head under the water. I thrashed about,
floundering like a man on fire; body lurching in pain, contorted with fear,
gasping for breath. To imagine the fear, you couldn’t, it’s impossible.Be smart, the voice said inside my head,
Be smart, the voice repeated.I lay still in the
water not struggling, eyes opened and waited.Praying.Hoping.A thought, brief
in its intrusion, Did I look as beautiful as Millais’ image of Ophelia floating
in the river just before she drowned? Open arms and upwards gaze. Saint or
martyr …? Was that my choice?He removed his
hand and I gasped for breath, coughing and spluttering for air. He got up and
walked out of the bathroom. I sat in the bath hugging my knees to my chest
whilst the water emptied. The cold forced me to get dressed.He knew he’d gone
too far. Breakfast in bed and the promise of a trip to the seaside was his way
of saying sorry and erasing the guilt. He grovelled again, asked for
forgiveness and sobbed in my lap. “I can fix this,”
he would say to me.How could I not
forgive him? After all he said he was sorry. He said it wasn’t his fault; it
was the booze and a bad night of poker.I believed him.
Like a fool, I believed him.

1065 Westminster Abbey in London, built under the auspices of
Edward the Confessor, was consecrated. The Benedictine monastery had been
re-endowed and enlarged under the oversight of Edward the Confessor, but the
King had been too ill to attend the consecration ceremonies. He was buried in
the abbey after his death on January 4, 1066.

Friday, December 27, 2013

When did I first suspect that Helen had been unfaithful. To be honest, I never suspected; I had to catch her in bed with her lover before admitting the truth to myself. I remember coming home unexpectedly to find her in our bed, our marital bed, which is sacrosanct, with Trevor, her boss, of all people! I could not believe Helen could betray me like this, especially after making love to me earlier that morning in the very same bed.

What hurt the most was her lack of remorse. She even laughed at my pain, her hurtful words a floodgate of loathing. While I thought our relationship was fine, and that we would survive the storm, she, on the other hand, was seething with rage and resentment. She was tired of supporting me, physically, mentally and financially. She had had enough, but why did she not tell me. Perhaps she tried, and I did not listen.

You think I was at fault, that my drinking pushed her away, do you not? You have no use for my self-pity, do you? Ah, what makes you so righteous? You think you would have behaved differently. I dare say, not! You would have wallowed in self-pity just like I did, only your way of dealing with your demons might have been different. Instead of alcohol you might have turned to drugs, or threw yourself into your job, or took up religion. How do you know what you would have done until you have actually experienced the pain?

537 The Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom of God), one
of the world's greatest architectural masterpieces, was dedicated in
Constantinople by the Emperor Justinian. This was the third Cathedral, the
previous two having been destroyed by fire.

1390 Anne de Mortimer, Countess of
Cambridge, and the mother of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and
grandmother of King Edward IV and King Richard III, was born.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

On today’s edition of the Phil Naessens Show we’re looking at the best and worst 2013 Hot Stove Baseball deals in the American and National League and play Santa Claus to the Oakland A’s and New York Mets.

Boxing
Day - is a traditional celebration, dating back to medieval times, when gifts
were given to employees, the poor, or to people in a lower social class.

795 Leo III was elected Roman Catholic pope. Pope Saint Leo recognized
Charlemagne as the patricius of the Romans, crowning the great leader Holy Roman
Emperor who protected Pope Leo from his enemies. He was an effective
administrator of the papal territories, and contributed to the beautification
of Rome.

Zeb Benbrook and I discuss the possibility of the NBA doing away with the Lottery draft and instituting a “wheel” type format and give gifts to all 10 NBA teams playing on Christmas day plus much much more.

The date recognized by the
Roman Catholic Church for the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas was also known
as Yule (Anglo-Saxon) or Noel (French). 337 Earliest possible date that
Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th. 352 First definite date that Christmas
was celebrated on Dec 25th.

498 French king Clovis baptized himself.

597
England adopted the Julian calendar.

795 Pope Adrian I died. The relationship
of Adrian to Charlemagne was considered an ideal expression of Church and State
in a united Christian society.

800 Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned
the first Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in Rome.

875 Charles the Bald was
crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

1066 William the Conqueror was crowned king of
England, at Westminster Abbey, London. 1

100 Baldwin of Boulogne was crowned the
first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity.

1156 Peter the Venerable
died. As Abbot of Cluny, Peter of Montboissier made great reforms to the
monastery that restored its influence in European religious politics.

1223 St.
Francis of Assisi assembled the first Nativity scene.

1559 Pius IV was elected
pope. Born Giovanni Angelo de'Medici, Pius concluded the Council of Trent and
pursued reforms of the Papal Curia.